By upgrading the aesthetic elements of Twitter profiles, they’re now providing individuals & brands with more opportunities to strengthen their branding messages in the digital space. The addition of a “Header Image” – which could be likened to the Facebook cover photo – allows users to upgrade the look & feel of their profiles. With the right marketing & creative minds at work, this will also be great for brands as they continue searching for ways to strengthen their digital marketing presence!

Header Image Ex.

How does this affect you & How do you do It?

As it stands today, Twitter isn’t pushing the new profile changes automatically. That means you can disregard this post & do nothing to keep the old profile layout if you choose to do so. However, since you’re here & have read this far, switching to the new profile layout & adding a custom header image is simple. The process is slightly different depending on whether you’re executing it through the website or using an app, so we’ll outline the steps for changing your profile through both the website & the iPad app.

From the Website:

After logging in, head to the profile editing page by visiting https://twitter.com/settings/design. You can also access this page by either clicking on the “Edit your profile” button on your profile page or the “Settings” (gear icon) on the right side of the top menu bar & selecting “Edit profile”, and clicking “Design” on the left menu.

Scroll past all the themes you’re use to seeing, & you’ll eventually see the new “Header” option. From here, you will just need to choose an image from your computer to upload as your new header.

Once you’ve chosen the image, you’ll have the ability to zoom or reposition it before uploading.

Admire your art…

From the iPad App:

Navigate to your profile page by clicking on the “Me” icon on the bottom of the menu on the left of the screen

Click the Settings gear, & select “Edit profile”

Select the “Header” option at the top of the menu that pops up

Choose an image file from your mobile device. If you have a camera on your device, it will also give you the option of taking a new photo. Just like on the website, you have the opportunity to adjust the size & positioning of the image before adding it

Admire your art…

Here at SPYCH, we’re always on the lookout for creative brand messaging & examples of good work. Include your Twitter handles or other great examples you’ve seen in the comments so we can check them out & show you some love!

You know what it’s like: sitting at the computer and staring at the “Social Media Slot Machine” with continuous updates from Facebook friends and the stream of tweets trickling down your screen… Not knowing what to post or even just lurking on different sites trying to learn how to get your customers involved with what your company is doing online… There’s a better way to interact online than silently stalking competitors to understand their strategy!

Here’s where we suggest you start.

First, think about your company (you may need to get out a sheet of paper to track this conversation in your head), and REALLY think about it. Lay out all your marketing messages, brand promises and mission statements and get down to the core of what your brand represents. Conjure up what it means to be a part of the company – to be involved in the everyday excitement of working with colleagues and having the opportunity to build relationships with new clients. It may help to think about the concept behind:

Brand Vision-What do you want to accomplish through social media? Do you want to teach your customers about your company? Or, do you want to educate other professionals about your industry? Picking the core vision will help when discerning what content to post online.

Brand Audience- What audience do you want to listen to you? Identify the key customers your company should broadcast its messages to.

Brand Personality- It’s more than just your company’s voice, it’s what that voice represents. Think of that ultimate employee who exemplifies the company’s values in everything he or she does on a daily basis. Whether it is in their communication mannerisms or the activities they participate in after work… Speak from this voice!

The next important step is to become an active and consistent presence online. By making daily updates on social media channels, customers following your company will begin to develop an understanding of your brand. You may be asking yourself, “I don’t even know what to post! How can I find something that will engage my followers?” Well, the good news is you don’t necessarily need to be the opinion leader yet, but you do need to have an opinion with what you choose to post. Find articles and online sites that correlate with the vision of your company and make sure they are fitted to enlighten your specific audience. As mentioned earlier – “customers following your company will begin to develop an understanding of you brand”… Therefore, make sure posts are ON BRAND!

Consistence and stability are both key to maintaining an authoritative position online. When sharing information, keep an even flow of communication from your company to your users. Sporadic postings may conflict with your company vision and users may lose interest in keeping up with your news feed.

Social media sites have provided companies of every size the ability to target and communicate with their customers much easier than ever before… Remaining consistent across all channels is a fundamental principle to actively connect and provide value to others. While these are only the first steps on the path to utilizing social media to its fullest potential, they are core concepts to understand and implement into your online branding strategy!

So, what do you think? What are issues you’re facing? What are some tips YOU can share with others?

Like this:

Let’s face it, when everything is said and done it all boils down to people. We put labels on it like B2C, B2B, C2C, Social Media, Web 2.0, and many more. However, when you really look at it all and drill down to the core, it is all P2P – Person-to-Person.

Brands are starting to understand, Marketers are learning quickly, Researchers are catching on and the game has changed. Whether your business is selling to consumers, other businesses, cats or dogs, the bottom line is people. A great item that I saw Gary Vee touch on today was simple, obvious, but compelling – it’s people that make decisions. I told you it is nothing glamorous at first, but think about it. There is a person(s) behind every brand, business, blog and pet. If you truly start to understand and obtain people-based insights you are close to seeing how the game is changing. Consumers and business professionals alike are moving toward this new personal model. Gen X and the Boomers can remember when you used to make a “flyby” to the client, drop in and say hi and walk next door and talk to the neighbors. These same conversations and interactions are occurring now, just in a different arena.

The ones who will truly advance are the ones who can engage in these new digital realms and then transfer that connection into real life – an in-person client meeting, dinning at your restaurant or flying on your airline. That is the new direction and every day companies are beginning to get better at engaging the digital consumer. What does this mean for us as researcher?

First – We must understand the game. How does it work? Who are the players? What are the rules? How do I win? In other words, you need to get past the information search and understanding phase into the application and utilization phases. (This is where you should have an advantage as a researcher) Even if you are not using the social web for research, your clients are beginning to use it in their business and will certainly require you to understand it as a research consultant. Think of it as a new therapeutic category for all of you that are in the Pharma/Healthcare space. We are past “Social Media is Cool,” now we need to look at how and when to leverage its offerings.

Second – Avoid criticizing the unknown! It wasn’t too long ago our industry and clients were skeptical of web-based surveys. One of our Senior Advisors, Dave Gustafson, sold some of the first online work to big pharma companies, their questions – “How do I know the Dr. is really the one taking the survey” and so on and so forth. Now, it is a given and common methodology. The new game is not as simple and trivial as it seems, you need to spend more time online than e-mail, Google maps and airlines to figure it out

Third – Start to understand the younger demographics. Whether you are in B2C or B2B, it is important to understand Gen Y and how they work and interact. These are not just your customers but your colleagues, clients etc. Do your research and do not overlook this group.

The good news is the information is abundant. It is easy to ask questions and as researchers we see exactly what is headed our way and to the market. It is really an exciting time for the research industry as we have many new tools, methods and skills at our fingertips. As our clients start to engage in this new way, it is opportunity for us as researchers to help them along to success.

This past Friday was the DFW AMA Market Research SIG meeting and I was asked by Paul Maynard of Zachry Associates to present. The meeting was absolutely great! To start with, the attendance was phenomenal we had over 40 people in attendance and everyone was engaging and excited to learn and share!

The presentation Keynote is has been uploaded to slideshare.net and can be found here. Please let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, suggestions or comments! In fact, @me on twitter, or even give me a call on my cell – 215-501-2341. I would love to hear from you and know what I can help you do with your business!

So, what’s coming up? I am in talks with the Dallas Executive Women’s Group for a future presentation, and this Friday and Saturday is the much anticipated DFW Big (D)esign Conference!!! I am so excited to meet everyone coming to the conference and the pre-conference mixer at Cohabitat in Dallas. Elysa Rice and I have been working hard and will be prepared to meet the challenges and questions our audience has for the 10AM session.

All of you qualitative researchers out there: If you are not a member of QRCA – You SHOULD be!! Go check it out www.qrca.org. I am very active and would love to speak with you about it if you have any questions!